Our Relief Society lesson was on baptism today. I had several stories and thoughts but none fit quite right into the comment parts of the lesson, so I'm going to give my own comments here on my blog where a whole 5 people read it.
Baptism to me means love, comfort, hope and excitement. I was lucky on the day that I was baptized. I was surrounded by friends and family. I remember my Uncle Chris and his family being there, my Wilcox grandparents, my piano teacher Erma Frodshum. My best friend (Jami Higham) and I were baptized on the same day so Jami's grandma made us matching dresses. "My" Vietnamese family was also there. (My grandparents were sponsoring a Vietnamese family that was trying to escape Vietnam. They lived with my family. There were six of them. A mother, father, three children and a sister. I was closest to Doa and Lin. It was fun to show them snow, teach them American customs, watch them go to college, watch as their 16 year old grew taller than the rest of the family. They bought live ducks, kept them in our garage and cooked them for us for dinner.) Some of the family (one of them was Doa) had talked to the LDS missionaries and had wanted to be baptized. I was so blessed to be baptized along with other very special people. My mom had sewed me a new skirt for afterwards and had braided my hair. My dad practiced with me to make sure that I knew what to do. I remember my dad taking my hand as I stepped into the font. I could tell he was so proud. My mom helped me change into my clothes afterwards. I have a vague recollection of my Grandpa Wilcox helping confirm me and give me the gift of the Holy Ghost.
At my baptism, I promised to remember the sacrifice that Jesus Christ has made for each one of us. I promised to obey the commandments that the Lord has given us. I promised to repent over and over again throughout my life. I felt loved, hopeful for the future and excitement in my big day.
There are other baptism stories that are neat in themselves. My mom was baptized in the Salt Lake Tabernacle on Temple Square. My dad was baptized in Ethiopia. He always joked that he was baptized in a river full of crocodiles. (It was close. A pool next to a river full of crocodiles.) I wanted to tell a couple of baptism stories from my mission to Ecuador, I'll tell one.
It is about Amparito. Her husband was a member and attended church weekly. She was not and had no desire to be. She told her husband that she would listen to the missionaries but you could tell that she was not happy to be there. We taught her about many things. I don't think we followed the discussion manual very much because she seemed to need love more than anything, so we taught about love. We talked about how God loved each of us. When we talked about baptism I thought she would never listen to us again. Instead she cried and told us about her baby that had died years before that she hadn't had a chance to baptize in her church. She was angry at God for letting her baby die and in a deep depression because she thought her baby was gone forever to a place that she was afraid that she would go to. We talked about how babies are saved by their pure innocence and that her baby could still be hers. She gradually stopped seeing the anger and started opening up to her husband and life. On her scheduled baptism day the font wouldn't fill so the ward missionary jumped into the cistern and fed us buckets of water which we carried to the font. It took two hours. Some of her friends came, her husband came, but she still didn't come with her son. I was worried. 1/2 an hour after the time we were supposed to start my companion and I started the 40 minute walk to her house to see what was going on. 15 minutes into it we found her scrambling and trying to hurry her son. She was on her way, just late. I didn't see her for two years after I was moved from the area. Before I got married I took my sister Janelle to visit some people there. We drove around and tried to find as many of my dear friends who hadn't moved or that I hadn't forgotten how to find their houses. We found Amparito's house almost on accident. She lit up. I'd never seen such happiness on her face. We cried and hugged. It took time but you could see that she was happy, comforted, and hopeful.
